With the advent of “hot pluggable” optical transceivers, latching devices have become a popular safety feature to ensure that the transceiver module is held within the guide rail or cage until purposely removed. Bail latching devices have become particularly popular, due to their functional and ergonomic advantages. Previous bail designs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,263 issued to IBM Corp., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,918 issued to Finisar Corp. The bail in the IBM device forces plastic arms, which are normally biased inwardly, outwardly into engagement with the guide rail system. The bail in the Finisar device pivots a separate pivoting latch member, which is normally biased into engagement with the cage by a specially designed extension of the housing. The Finisar device, in particular, includes a specially designed bail with a loop or cam portion requiring a complex assembly process to ensure that the bail, the pivoting latch member and the housing all interact correctly. Other bail latching devices for optical transceivers are disclosed in United States Published Patent Applications Nos. 2003/171022 published Sep. 11, 2003 in the name of Distad et al, and 2003/236019 published Dec. 25, 2003 issued to Hanley et al.
An object of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art systems by providing a simple bail latching device.